Sunggyu willed his weak and wobbly legs to take him to the final stop.

“Final destination… Am I starring in a movie right now…?” Sunggyu laughed humourlessly. Nonetheless, the extremely fatigued Infinite leader dashed across the street and entered the hotel.

Lovely chandelier lights lit up the empty elegant hotel lobby. Sunggyu emitted a knowing sigh as he had already expected the hotel to be vacant. Feeling as if there might be a mission waiting at the reception desk, Sunggyu walked to the destination with long, purposeful strides.

Sunggyu had once again hit correctly on his hunch as the black note laid contrastingly on the white-marble table. He picked it up and read the content anxiously.

Kim Sunggyu, the leader of Infinite is a quick-learner…
You’ve figured out my favourite number is ‘7’, isn’t it…?
I like it and really do admire your capabilities…
So, to cut the game short…
Sungyeol is being held captive at room 777 on the 7^th storey…
I presume you won’t take long to find him, right…?
That’s because if you take too much time, he will meet you at level one…
With a smashed brain…

Without further hesitation, Sunggyu dashed towards the stairwell and climbed frantically up.

2^nd floor…

3^rd floor…

4^th floor…

5^th floor…

6^th floor…

“Just one more level and I’ll be able to rescue the tall choding…” Sunggyu did a little self-motivation and climbed up the stairs at an impossibly faster pace. Finally, Sunggyu’s foot hit the last step. He tilted up his head to look at the sign and received a shock.

6^th floor…

“It can’t be…! This is impossible…! …! Damn…!” Sunggyu cursed and swear at the paranormal sight.

“Is this a trick…?” Sunggyu thought mentally. He pushed opened the door and looked for the room number. The first room was ‘600’. The second was ‘602’. The third room was ‘604’ and so on.

Groaning in frustration, Sunggyu returned to the stairwell and climbed up another level.

6^th floor…

Again, the number indicated was a freaking ‘6’.

“God dammit…!” Sunggyu cursed again before climbing up another few more levels. But as expected, the floor level forever indicated ‘6’. There was no sight of the required ‘7’.

The Infinite leader spent almost an hour in the stairwell. Time was running out and Sunggyu was getting impatient and anxious. He stepped out of the stairwell and decided to take the elevator.

“Ding!” The elevator arrived. Sunggyu scanned cautiously at the metal box before meekly stepping into it. The short ride seemed like eternity to the profusely sweating guy. Sunggyu felt constricted as he felt that he was being engulfed by the confined space.

“Ding!” The elevator stopped exactly at the seventh storey which had Sunggyu greatly surprised. Sunggyu stepped out of the lift and took a look at the long, dim and empty hallway. The lights were not in good working condition as they flickered every now and then, threatening to give out anytime, and adding unwanted eeriness to the situation.

Sunggyu cleared his throat in order to swallow the imaginary lump of fear. He gulped and took in a deep breath before searching for room 777.

“702, 704, 706…” Sunggyu began running along the creepy hallway.

“768, 770, 772, 774, 776, 778… And… What…? That’s it…? What the …?” Sunggyu cursed when he reached the end of the hallway. There was no sight of the room 777. There was just a plain, white wall dividing room 776 and room 778.

“Holy crap…! There’s no such number, you bastards…!” Being seriously pissed off; Sunggyu cursed and kicked the wall.

A loud hollow sound echoed in the dark and deserted hallway. Sensing something was amiss, Sunggyu knocked on the wall to test his prediction. And true enough, another hollow sound replied back.

Sunggyu wanted to cheer at his unbelievable good luck for the day. He had just discovered the fake wall. Thrilled with the discovery, Sunggyu dug out the hammer from his pocket and knocked violently on the wall.

“Thud! Thud! Thud” The wall slowly succumbed to Sunggyu’s strong s and collapsed. The room was in pitch of darkness and he could not see a single thing.

Thanking the advanced technology nowadays, Sunggyu whipped out his phone and the flashlight. Swiping the only light source around, Sunggyu was disappointed that it was empty. Unwilling to give up, Sunggyu searched in the bathroom, opened up cardboards and took out every single clothes to ensure that there were no special compartment to hide a person. He looked under the bed and shifted all the furniture and yet there was no sight of the Infinite’s choding.

Due to the waste of precious time in the stairwell, Sunggyu was left with one hour and four minutes. He sighed dejectedly and opened the glass door to the balcony, hoping that the chilly wind would clear his jumbled mind.

“Gyuuuu… Hyunggggg…” A soft plead reached Sunggyu’s highly sensitive ears. He looked around but could not see anyone.

“Sungyeol…? Are you here…? Sungyeol…!” A tint of hope rose in Sunggyu and he looked frenetically around for the tall choding.

“Here… Gyu hyung… Under… Underneath…” Sungyeol replied weakly.

Sunggyu looked down as per Sungyeol’s instruction and his blood ran cold instantly. The floor of the balcony was made of glass with nothing, absolutely nothing underneath the seventh storey. And the poor boy was tied and trapped in the fragile glass box underneath the floor.

“Oh gosh…! F… …! … Damn…! What the hell…?” A string of vulgarities shot out from the Infinite leader. Feeling extremely petrified for the first time of his tiring day, Sunggyu trembled and squatted down. Tears flowed down his pale cheeks at the high-risk rescue mission.

Since the whole box was made of glass, there was a high possibility that once Sunggyu tried to hit the top part with the hammer, the whole box would shattered. Sungyeol would not be able to stretch out his hand to Sunggyu since they were being tied behind his back.

Sungyeol tried to stifle his whimpers and called out to his courageous leader. “Gyuuu hyunggg… Just leave… Don’t bother to save me… Continue your tasks in saving others… I’ll...”

“Stop…! you, Sungyeol…! Don’t ever try to dissuade me from saving you…! No matter what, I’ll try my best… No… I’ll definitely get you out of that ty hole… Infinite is not complete without seven members… Just give me some time and let me think of a way…” Sunggyu said with determination.

The cruel time did not bother to stop and was slowly ticking by. Fifty-six minutes left and Sunggyu finally mustered his courage and took out a small hammer to knock softly against the glass. The surface cracked slightly with no further action.

Sunggyu took a deep breath and tried to steady his trembling hand for a second try.

“Gyu hyung… Should you fail, I’ll never blame you… I know you have tried your best… Just help me say good…”

Sungyeol was once again interrupted by Sunggyu’s loud and fearful scolding.

“Lee Sungyeol…! Let me repeat one last time…! I’ll not go back without you, get it clear…?” Sunggyu bellowed furiously. “Remind me to help you dig your ears once we arrived at the dorm… You can’t hear me properly… For goodness sake…”

“Hahahaha…!” Sungyeol laughed despite the dangerous plight he was in. “Forever the naggy leader, Gyu hyung…!”

The tense atmosphere lifted up slightly. Sunggyu and Sungyeol looked at each other and exchanged understanding and determined smile.

Seconds ticked by and Sunggyu had managed to drill a 50cm hole in the glass. Just then, an unwanted crack sound reached the leader’s ears and made his heart thumped madly. The glass box was cracking bit by bit. Cobwebs shaped crack could be seen on every six sides of the glass box.

Sunggyu knew he had to react fast. He laid on the floor of the room and grabbed hold of Sungyeol’s shoulders. Within two seconds, the entire glass box shattered and left Sungyeol suspended in the mid-air.

“Ouch!” Sunggyu whimpered in pain when a piece of glass cut his left elbow and yet he was unable to move as Sungyeol’s entire weight was merely supported by the leader’s arms.

“Gyu hyung… You’re bleeding…! Oh my gosh…! Just drop me…! It’s better than two persons suffering… Hyung…!”

“Shut your damn mouth, Lee Sungyeol, you aren’t helping things here…!” Sunggyu chided while he willed his trembling hands to hoist up the heavy choding. Inch by inch, the Infinite leader slowly pulled up Sungyeol back to the room.

At last, the duo sat on the floor, panting heavily and hugged each other at the close step to eternity death.

Just then, a black note was being blown into the room. Sunggyu crawled towards it and read.

Congrats, the almighty Infinite leader…!
You’ve finished the task in five hours and thirty-nine minutes…!
Well… Task is completed…!
You may return to the dorm now…

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Dear loyal readers,
Hereby I sincerely apologise for the super-duper long wait... I was super busy for the past few weeks... >__<
As always, please feedback on the story plot, any grammar / language mistake or any non-sensical things...
Do let me know so that I can improve, thank you...! ^_^

Well, Woohyun is left for the last... ^_~